What about your name?

[Quizeerascal]

I'm always curious about whether the questions and dilemmas people raise on baby name threads actually matter in adulthood. Does it bother you if you were one of three Sarah's in school for example and were always known as Sarah E? Does your name match with your siblings' names and if not does it bother you? Do you notice if your first name flows with your middle name or not? Does having a full name like Charlotte rather than a shortened name like Lottie matter to you?

I have a slightly old-fashioned name for my generation and I occasionally felt self conscious about this growing up but generally I liked having an unusual name for my peer group. I also like that it never gets shortened. Interested to hear others' views.

@SirVixofVixHall, you got it.

Now sing it to me ....

Am singing it now. I love that song. It is an excellent name too. 🙂

My name was very common in the 80's, and I think there were about 8 of us in my school. Clearly way to many people were watching Dallas at the time as we were all named after the same actress😂😂 The character was nicknamed the poison dwarf, but I'm 6ft1 so it doesn't quite go 🤷🏽‍♀️

I'm a Mary - born in a certain era .
I never came across many others BUT at senior school ended up in a class with a Maria and a Marie too. I remember my poor Geography teacher trying to tell me to be quiet during one of his lessons "Shut up Mary, Maria, Marie or whatever your name is...!!!'

csmw So Lucy ? Or Charlene ?
I have never met a Charlene. I know one Lucy in each generation.

@SirVixofVixHall
Charlene 🙈 Have you not?, I've met so many over the years

No, not one single Charlene. 😀

My name is reasonably common but also reasonably traditional think Amy, Rachel etc - I was always known by a nickname at secondary school and uni but never at primary. I am one of 5 at work in a relatively niche industry but we are all various ages.

There were 5 girls with my name in my year (including me) 2 of us had nicknames and the other 3 were called their name+ surname. No big deal.

Whenever I meet another woman with my name, they are always the same vintage as me.

I tried to give my kids slightly unusual names.

Mine is the Irish version of my BC name. I never knew another one as a child and it was unusual even in my much bigger secondary school. It was a popular name in 60s Ireland in general though, and still gets used. When I moved to the US it really stood out and it gets thoroughly mangled.

I sometimes wonder how I would have seen myself if mum and dad had flipped a coin to decide between the names they were arguing over for me - Suzanne (mum's preference) and Susannah (dad's).

In the end an aunt of mine came up with the name they eventually have me.

Suzanne would have been very 60s/ 70stastic, while Susannah is a classic. I would have been 'little Susie' either way. I would have fit in better with my siblings, name-wise, no matter which they chose, and I would have been one of half a dozen Suzannes/Susans/Susies in secondary school.

I have never met anyone with my name (I'm nearing 30) but it has recently been used in a VERY popular Disney movie for the main character. I expect there to be more girls with my name in the future, but loved growing up with an unusual name even if I was teased for it. I gave my baby an unusual name - note unusual, not made-up - as I feel it helped me stand out and find my own character.

HATE my name.

Never met anyone of my generation with it.

Women 35/40 years older have it.

What were my parents thinking?
Were they even thinking??

Growing up I was always a bit annoyed that my name was boring and common and always one of three/four in the same class. I always wanted to be a Natalie 🙂. Once I got to college though I really started to like it - a soft sounding name, easy to spell and I think quite pretty and hasn’t seemed to date too much. Emma - not to everyone’s taste but I like my name

Name is ok. I've settled with it over the years but it's unisex and parents unkindly made me have short hair so I was regularly mistaken for boy.

It was a big deal and still is to a certain extent.

Unisex name are big no no for me.

I'm a Kate from the 80s and it really bothered me that my last initial was always used. I like being Kate rather than Katherine though. I think it depends on the name as to whether I'd want the more extended version, depending on what it shortens to. And I like that my first and middle names flow, yes.

I hated it when I was young because it sounded like an old lady name but I've grown to like it. It's just a very short, 1 syllable word which doesn't really give many options for a nickname. I would rather something longer like Alexandra so I could swap and change to all sorts like Alex, Drea, Andie whenever the mood struck.

I hate my name. Late seventies baby and I’m named after my mum- why? I don’t get it!

It’s a name that is usually for older women and there was one other in my secondary school.
In the last few years I’ve been using the shortened version of it much more and I was called this by family a lot as a child as it was easier.

I’m the oldest child and neither of my brothers age named after my dad. I just don’t get why I’m named after my mum!

My dc are called Oliver (17) and Lucy (9) and have gone through school being the only ones in their class with that name. Oliver was not popular where I live when he was born in 2003 and he really suits it.
I knew when I was a little girl that I would call any future daughter Lucy, no idea why but I just loved it.

I love my name, it was a fashionable name in my culture back when I was born and the trend only seems to have lasted a couple of years so it feels quite unique now I'm older.

The best thing I've found is that it's easy to pronounce for English speakers - one of my let peeves is when someone has a beautiful foreign name that just sounds hideous in any other accent.

I was 1 of 14 Sarahs in my School and there was another Sarah with a last name that started with the same letter as mine and in the same year. People started calling me sporty Sarah while the other was called tall Sarah.. not great. There were also so many Michaels! I feel bad for all the Sophies and Olivers because most of the people in my friends group have named one of their daughters Sophie!